And Now We're Four

Lillian JoAnne

08.07.11

7 lbs 10 oz

19 inches

Our beautiful little girl decided to make her grand entrance three days past my due date. But she sure came in a hurry! Around 9:00 Sunday morning I had my first contraction. The next one came ten minutes later and then they didn't stop. Nichole made a mad dash to our house to pick up Preston and we got to the hospital around 10:00. Lilli Jo arrived at 11:23! My heart is full and I have been blessed with this beautiful family.

Lilli Jo's First Week

Much like Preston was, Lilli Jo is quite the content little baby. She loves to eat and she loves to sleep. She gets up once during the night to eat (yes, we know how fortunate we are for that!) and as the days go by she becomes more and more alert throughout the day. I could look into her big, beautiful eyes all day long! While I know that babies don't smile I take those little gassy grins as smiles because they are so darn cute!

Preston is embracing his role of big brother and loves to give Lilli kisses and hugs. He likes to hold her so long as she doesn't start crying. Once the crying starts, he's done.  :-)

 

 

Lilli and Preston

 Sharing his books with his sister

Telling her stories

Honey Days 2011

The Roaring 20s

 The kids all got TONS of candy at the parade

 The Volga Fire Department

 The Hovey Gang

Rentsch Volleyball!!!

I was terrible about taking pictures this year! But we had a blast at volleyball. Spent most of Saturday out there but only went for a few hours on Sunday ... it was just too darn hot.

The Rentsch team made it all the way to championship (no surprise there) and finished in second place.

Can't wait until next year!!!

Patiently waiting ...

Yesterday marked 39 weeks and today was my last day of work. Now we wait for baby b to make his/her arrival. We have our last scheduled appointment bright and early Monday morning (if we make it through the weekend).

This weekend is Honey Days!!! We'll be heading to the parade in the morning and then we'll make our way to the volleyball tournament to take in a little Rentsch volleyball!! This year marks 20 years of Rentsch volleyball! Such a great tradition and ALWAYS a good time. I'm excited to see everyone again ... funny how we only see some of these wonderful people on this particular weekend.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Preston's Photo Shoot

He wasn't the most cooperative (what 2-year-old is?), but we managed to get some pretty good pictures of the little guy during our photo shoot.

And a picture with dad ...

Preston rediscovered his harmonica a day or two before we had our photo shoot and he hasn't put it down since. I recently inherited all of my Grandpa Rolf's harmonicas ... if Preston's love of the harmonica continues, he just might inherit them some day too. I think Grandpa Rolf would be pretty happy!

Maternity Photos ~ Baby B

The old train depot and the old firehall served as the backdrop for our photo shoot last Sunday. My wonderful, talented mother was the photographer.

4th of July

Sunday night we headed to Bruce to spend time with the Hovey clan. Great food and lots of fun! And a spectacular fireworks display courtesy of Uncle Don and Uncle Rolfie, who purchased a boat load of fireworks! Dustin ended up being our guy to light most of them! The guys got together with the neighbors and put on quite a show. At one point I think there were maybe eight of them lined up and they lit them up all at once. It was awesome!

 Grandma and Grandpa watching fireworks with the boys

Preston Rides a Pony!

Monday we headed to the Uncle Sam Jam at the Swiftel Center after Preston's nap (we skipped the parade this year in favor of him getting some sleep ... I think we ran him ragged this weekend). 

Preston got to go on a pony ride!! He was pretty excited. Until he got on the pony. We were the first in line in our group so he had to sit on the pony until the other kids got on their ponies. He kind of freaked out a little. At one point he saw me and was trying to reach for me and still hold on to the pony, yelling "I hold you, I hold you!". Once they got going he seemed to enjoy it, although Dustin said his knuckles were white from holding on so tight!

The horse he was on, named Buckwheat (which is what my Dad usually calls Preston!), was snorting the whole time Preston was riding him. At one point, Preston even yelled out a yee-haw!

After the pony ride, we headed over to the little petting zoo to check out a miniature donkey, some sheep, a pot-bellied big and some rabbits.

 

After all that activity it was time to come home and cool off with a freeze pop and some time on the swing!

Then we headed to Mom and Dad's for supper and some more fireworks. (We can't do any fireworks that leave the ground in Brookings. Bummer, right?)

 Preston got to help light some smoke bombs!

 He would light them and then run away, laughing/screaming the whole way. He thought it was the coolest thing ever, I think.

 The neighbors brought over their lantern so Preston and Allie could see it. We saw a couple in Bruce the night before. They are so neat!

There it goes! It took off and headed North and we could still see it maybe a couple miles away.

We were so blessed to be able to spend some time with both our families this weekend. I hope everyone enjoyed the 4th of July weekend as much as we did!